1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a salad spin dryer with a lower part, a salad sieve rotatable about an axis, and a lid.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Several salad spin dryers are available on the market. They all have a bowl-like container lower part and a lid with an integrated drive unit. In the container lower part there is a salad sieve rotatably mounted about a vertical axis. For emptying and for cleaning the salad sieve can be removed. The salad sieve has an essentially cylindrical sidewall and a flat base and is open to the top. On the lower side of the lid there is a rotating plate which is rotatable about the vertical axis. The rotating plate has tabs which reach downwards and with a closed spin dryer are in active connection with the salad sieve. Usually, the tabs engage between corresponding ribs of the salad sieve which are arranged uniformly distributed over an upper periphery of the sieve. The rotating plate is connected to a gear with gearwheels in a known manner. A crank is located in the lid and the gear may be driven by the crank. If one rotates the crank, then the rotating plate and thus the complete salad sieve is set into rotation. By multiplication in the gear one achieves high rotational speeds and the remaining water which the salad leaves retain from washing is shaken through the openings of the salad sieve to the outside by way of the exerted centrifugal force. It hits the inner wall of the container lower part where it may run downwards and collects on the base. With the spinning procedure with such a crank-operated salad spin dryer the sieve always rotates always in the same direction. The sieve must be completely braked or stopped before a change in the rotational direction, before it may be rotated into the other direction. These known salad spin dryers have one disadvantage in that the crank needs to be rotated in a constant manner until the salad leaves are sufficiently dried. An unbalance produced by the non-uniform distribution of the salad leaves in the salad sieve brakes the rotational movement and in time damages the bearing and gear.
Also known is a salad spin dryer with a yoyo-like pull-cord mechanism which on spinning ensures a regular change in rotational direction. Customers desire this because the rhythmic braking and acceleration in the opposite direction considerably improve the spinning result. With known pull-cord drives, the rotating plate is seated on a vertical axle arranged centrally in the lid, on which also one end of the pull-cord is fastened. At the opposite end of the cord there is fastened a grip which permits a simple gripping and prevents the complete pulling of the cord into the lid. If the cord is wound around the axle then the rotating plate and thus the salad sieve may be set into a quick rotation opposite to the direction of winding by way of a strong pulling. If the axle-side end of the cord is reached then this is automatically wound around the axle in the rotational direction. Shortly before a complete winding-on of the cord the user brakes the rotational movement so that the rotating plate and the sieve come to a complete stop. The cord is now completely or at least approximately completely wound-up and with a renewed pulling the rotating plate and sieve are set into rotation with the reverse rotational direction. After spinning for a sufficiently long time, the lid may be lifted from the lower part of the container and the salad sieve may be lifted out of the lower part of the container. The residual water is removed from the container lower part. One disadvantage of the known pull-cord spin dryers is that at the end of the spinning procedure the cord with the handle is not completely retracted but partly hangs out of the lid. The cord needs to be completely wound up by hand by way of the rotating plate. If the handle due to its intrinsic weight partly rolls off the cord and hangs down on spin dryer in an unsightly manner, then a separate retainer is required.